Dreaming Me
by BethanyAmber
Summary: The narrative of a girl who dreamed herself alive...and watches the passage of time through a haunted eye. D&D creatures, so D&D it is
1. Intro

I remember how it started, now. It was a long time ago, past the limits of memory, but I remember. Still I remember. She was born in a dream, and in a dream she lived. She was tallish: not too tall, but not very short. Right in the middle. She had a thin face, and big dark-blue eyes. But they were deep. They had the wisdom of many lives in them, but also the pain and hate. They were deep- you could drown in them. Her eyes spoke for her, when you could see them. Often they were partly covered by her long hair. She wore it loose or in a sloppy ponytail. It was a strange blondish-white color, with hints of black, brown and every color ever known. Everything about her gave the impression that she was a bit of everyone, everything, and every time. She took form in my dreams, and thus became a part of me. Truthfully, she _became _me. Her name was Ash, and that's all I ever knew. I always made up a last name or 'borrowed' another from someone I had met when I needed a surname. I didn't meet many people though, and so I didn't have to worry about this. But as Ash became real, so did I. And I took a form on Midsummer's Eve, one minute before midnight. It was a full moon, yet there were no stars. Around me, the fairies danced, their magick forming a dream-light in the forest. And so I became her, and she became me.


	2. Chapter 1

I first remember the moonlight, and what I took for stars. But there were no stars- it was the fairies. They were dancing, and from my position on the grass, they appeared as stars. The moon was the first thing I truly saw, and that soon was blocked out by the graceful head of a unicorn lowering its delicate head to look me in the eyes. I knew it then as 'Beautiful', but was soon corrected. Her name was Kishi,1 which meant Moonfire. With a gentle nudge, Kishi directed me to stand. Reaching for a handhold, I found none, but realized that I was already standing. Before me was a small, emerald dragon, hovering before me, gossamer wings a blur. He was Jæ2. That's as much of his name I can safely utter. Dragons have extremely long names, pronounceable only those of their race. And thus I was born from my dreams, into a world where your dreams had the power to change the land.

For a hundred years and another hundred I danced with the fairies. I sang with the elves, ran with the unicorns, flew upon pegusi and studied with the dragons. The gryphons taught me to control my magick, and the goblins and dwarves trained me in the ways of traditional sparring. With the _bishi__3_ I played endless games of tag that I always lost, and so I lived, ignorant of any kind of hate, violence and war. However, no dream stays the same. Slowly my dreams changed, and slowly the land I loved changed with them. The elves slowly left the forests and plains, going across East the seas for reasons I never understood, while the goblins and dwarves were chased from their halls of beautiful silver and gold into the deepest pits of the mountains, where they worked stone and iron; never to return. One day when I left my home to play with the _bishi_, they were nowhere to be found, no matter how far I wandered, looking, calling. I never found them. Gradually the dragons and fairies left. No, left is not the correct word. They hid. I could hear their laughter, sense their presence and could almost see them, but they were always just out of sight. When the dragons left, shortly after did the unicorns. The noble gryphons followed all to soon, leaving me with just the memories of their lessons. The memories and one beautiful, glowing feather of gold, on a string of pure moonlight were all I had left. The only ones who stayed with me were the felenari. They were like I was, but not like me: taller, more graceful, and beautiful, blessed with black or white fur and bright green eyes. That was the Felenari. They stayed, but I didn't see them often. They mostly stayed in their caves below the prairies, minding their own business. But it was nice to see them at times. They were a reminder of what had once been all around me.

When my friends left, others came. But these were not my friends like the elves were, these were my friends because they were the only ones there. But as the elves were beautiful and graceful, these were ugly and short. They called themselves 'humans', and said I was a 'human' too. I didn't want to be like them, because they chased my friends away. But now that I think back, I chased my friends' away- my dreams brought the New Ones here, chasing the Old People away. Just like they made me. However, at the time I only knew that my companions had been replaced with others who did not know the magick. These new ones had ugly names, ones that did not sound like the wind or the rivers. They did not know how to talk to the deer and the squirrels, and they only had creatures with them to do their work. They called them 'beasts' and 'animals'. But these 'lesser beasts' were indeed higher than any of them could hope to be. They lived their entire lives without blemish; they only followed what they knew to be true. I shall refer to the new peoples as Humans, for I do not consider myself one of them. The Humans did not know how to ask the People they 'owned' for favors, they demanded them with a whip. It broke my heart to see my People treated as lesser creatures, so we fled. I headed for the mountains, and the People came with me.

1 Key-she

2 Jay

3 Blink dogs. Can teleport short distances, usually ending up right behind their target.


	3. Chapter 2

For what seemed thousands of years we lived in the mountains. I made a small hut until I found a dry cave, then I moved in there. The People came with me, some of them, and others wandered the mountains…but they always came back. A few smaller cats and dogs stayed with me, and the cows never wandered far. The goats and sheep never strayed far, reluctant to leave the mountains where grass was plentiful, so I never lacked for company. Of course there were other People there too, the natives of the mountains, but they didn't mind our 'invasion' because we mainly kept to ourselves. I still practiced the magick taught by my friends I had so long ago. I taught it to the others, the People who wished to learn. They all possessed their own magick, the magick in their blood, but this I taught was the magick of the land. I always had plenty of food, shelter and was able to speak to the other Peoples, as long as I cared for the land. We kept the Breath of the Dragon in balance. The Breath- a positive energy, magick, that flowed in the land- often pooled and became negative, poisoning the earth. We found the pools and made them back into the rivers they once were, destroying the poison and keeping the land healthy. It would naturally be fine without us, but us being there made the Breath foul more often, so it was our job to clean up after ourselves, so to say.

But once again things could not stay. In the past thousand years, the Humans had changed. They built monsters from the metal once worked by the dwarves and fought over the gold and silver that was useless but for looking at. Their greed and hatred destroyed the land, and the poison crept across the land before them, like crows fly before a storm. We would have fled, but there was nowhere left to go. Past the mountains; through the sea to where the elves had gone? Not likely…I would not leave my friends, and they would not come. It would be a suicide venture. The Humans would reach us anyway. So we waited. Another five hundred years passed, and then they came. Their machines came first, destroying the land as they passed over it. Then the giant metal birds flew overhead, pouring smoke from their eyes and mouths. From them the Humans came, carrying their sticks of fire and metal. They chased away the People, sent them into hiding like they did so many years ago, and then tried to make me like them. Their short, ugly bodies with greasy hair, the crooked teeth and the harsh language, everything about them revolted me. But I had nowhere to go, so I hid. Like my friends, I hid. I let the Humans win, and let them take the land.

On the other side of the mountains, deep in the heart of unknown lands is where I made my new home. I won't say I thrived, but I survived, and that's what matters. There were different People there, but no Humans, not yet. They wouldn't come till later. But the People there were so…different. They were Nightmares embodied. Most had too many eyes and heads, with unnatural limbs. Yet, I stayed there. Not for the beauty of the desolate place, but for the minds longing to converse. Inside these horrendous beings were minds as sharp as Elven blades. One I still remember with particular fondness. He was an ugly creature with a short neck, long head like a herons', and a serpentine body covered in a coarse fur. My friend had the tail of a scorpion and four wings like a bat, and upon his head were the horns of a ram. The poor fellow was colored in the most unimaginative, revolting and plain colors on the earth, but yet he was my friend. He never told me his name; I believe it is safe to assume he didn't have one. However, he was my main companion through the years I was there. I stayed for a mere fifty years- the passing of seconds in both of our lives- but in those seconds, we became closer than we've ever been to any other being. Every night he would return to my small fire with an edible creature- I would not allow myself to consider them People- and we would share the meat. During our dinner we would talk, arguing philosophy and mythology, the meaning of life and what the stars truly were. Together we sharpened each other. He was starved for 'sophisticated' conversation, and I was desperate for any company at all. Every night until the day I fled again he would come to the fire like a moth and we would discuss our latest ideas and theories. Then, on the fiftieth year to the day, I knew I had to go. Something in me urged me to run, told me to hurry up and leave. And so I ran. I left my friend with only one word of explanation and left, knowing I'd never see him again. I am still haunted by the look on his face when I uttered the word that night. "Humans". I left the dark lands that day, traveling for three moons before I reached the Eastern border of my land. There I found more humans. There was nowhere left to hide anymore. The Humans surrounded me on all sides, and the People were hiding where I could not reach them. The only thing I had left was my 'Humanity', however revolting the idea was. So I became Human. I never stayed long in one place- the fact that I ages slowly would be too apparent. So I would stay but a few days in each place- to the Humans, it was years- but I always moved. My possessions were few- no more than a bit of money, some clothes and the golden feather I had received so long ago. I wore it on the unicorn-hair string around my neck, and it gave me hope. Hope that someday this world could return to the paradise it had once been.


	4. Chapter 3

The first place I settled was Rome, Greece. I left there for Italy and so I toured the 'European' continent. It was once the swamplands that melded into the jungles and deserts of 'Asia' and 'Africa'. I visited the places now known as 'India' and 'China', 'Japan' and 'Taiwan', where Dragons still lived. The inhabitants of those lands treasured the dragons and considered them good luck. Next I entered the wastelands of 'Africa'. Thousands of years ago it was not such a desolate place…it was a truly beautiful land to live in. When I was there, no more was it the beautiful land I had remembered. Where there now were deserts, brown plains and dry rivers, there had once been rushing rivers overflowing the banks, rich black earth with lush grass as far as the eye could see and towering trees that reached to the stars. The plain bareness of the sun-baked clay tore at my heart, bringing tears to my eyes. There were still People there, but they were not People. They had forgotten the Language; had fallen. No longer the People of long ago, they had been reduced to no more than animals below Humans. I tried once to communicate with a lion. The blankness in his mind, the constant thought of '**kill**', and the lack of life in his soul ripped me to pieces- that was the first and last time I tried to commune with one of the Animals. That is what I referred to the lost ones as- the ones who had lost the Language. There were a few People left, but they were rare. I found one while I was in Africa- an ancient Elephant named Zaa1. He graciously transported me across the treacherous grasslands, his only price conversation. From him I learned the story of Tai2- Africa- every heartbreaking detail.

The first Humans were graceful and respectful, like the Elves. They spoke the Language of the People and when they killed, it was the absolute minimum amount possible, and honors were given to the One who had given their life. But soon the White-Skinned Humans came, and took away the Dark-Skinned ones to serve them. The White ones took over, and slowly, they poisoned the land. It took a long time, but as they took more and more of the land for their machines to live off, the poison spread until it had covered all of Tai. It was the same thing with Oon3 –Europe. The weather there had been pleasant, but I knew firsthand that it was now the opposite. Wet, dark and foggy, the entire place had an air of dread and despair. Here, where it was dry and sandy and nothing thrived, it was _dead._ Even the Humans were getting back what they had reaped, said Zaa. The very poison they had created was coming back to them. There were famines, droughts, earth-shakes, swarms of insects that covered the land and ate everything, and wars. Everyone was fighting against someone else. Brother against Brother it truly was. No one could live there and say it was a peaceful place, or a happy one. But still they lived there, like moss. Nothing you did would totally destroy them, unless you destroyed everything they touched, including their home. You had to burn the entire forest to rid an inch completely the growth. When Zaa reached the Western ocean, we parted, and I bought passage to the South-West Continent. Deep in the heart of the jungles I found a civilization un-reached by the White Humans. I did not stay long- this society was far down the path of self-destruction. Every day and every night they sacrificed two people to their God. Their True God, the Feathered Serpent, had left long ago. His brother the Horned Jaguar- the god of War- had twisted the people to his own ends, and now they worshiped him with blood and human hearts. The city ran with the blood of the slain, and over it was visible the grinning face of the Evil One.

I left quickly, despairing over the situations of the peoples of Terra, and went to the NorthWest LandMass. I stayed, however, with the People of the Sea for a while. Not Humans, but not People, they were a strange bunch. Living deep under the sea in their crystal homes, they were untouched by Humans. They conversed with the Sea-Faring People in the Old Tongue and worked side-by-side with them. These Ocean dwellers had the gills and sometimes the tails or fins of fishes, so they could move quickly through the water, but often they took People-Shaped transports that ran off of the oceans water. The shapes and sizes ranged from the ancient Lizards of the Waters to the White Shark, but all were fast, and potentially destructive. Staying with the Elder, the Ruler of this place, I was told the story of the Shining City. Thousands of years ago, when I was still a dream, they were on the surface, and lived in harmony with the others upon Terra. But when the Humans came, they discovered the Shining City and named it Atlantis. When they named it, they simultaneously marked it for destruction. And so the People of the City retreated below the surface, not to see the sun again for a millennium and another. The first millennium was finished soon, and then the Rule of Humanity would begin to decline. I stayed for another thousand years, learning the arts of this race, until the lack of sun finally got to me. I had to leave. But I did not leave with naught to show- I left them stories of the Overlands, with the skills to create objects of even greater beauty, and with the learning from thousands of years of travel. However, equally blessed I left- I had learned the stories of their people, had mastered many arts of their culture, and I left knowing that I was welcome back.

The Overworld had changed greatly in the time I was gone, and it was not for the best. Machines ran everything- absolutely everything. The People were only found in special 'Wildlife Preserves' inside buildings, and trees and grasses were also grown indoors. To venture outside was to court death, for that was where the Rejected lived. Labeled as 'Thugs' 'Criminals' and 'Dangerous', they were the ones who broke rules and rejected the life they were forced into. Starving and reduced to less than Animals, they prowled the streets, living off the weaker. With that outside, it was no wonder everyone stayed inside and traveled by either telepads or some other safer form of transportation. Getting into this society was easy- simply find a computer, give yourself status and wealth; and then 'come out of a life of solitude to see the world'. So I entered the Age of Speed, as I called it, wealthy and unknown. With my riches I bought the People from the cages they were held in, bringing them to my home. I had a large place made for each new friend I brought back, and through gentle care and love the memories of their ancestors surfaced, and with it did the Language. Little by little the words came to them, and as they learned it, they passed it on to their offspring. Generations and generations passed with the technology becoming even greater, and soon the second millennium was approaching. I had prepared for this, reducing the need for electricity and nuclear power, using the several hundred-acre home I had to replicate in miniature their habitats. In the center was my small house, and around the land was a tall fence, but not to keep People in. The People knew the boundaries, but the Humans did not. Still we were there, preparing, learning; waiting. As always.

1 Z+ah

2 Taay

3 ooooooooo+n long O and short, sharp N


End file.
